A conferencing peripheral for use with a mobile device or laptop or desktop computer can include one or more projectors, cameras, microphones, and speakers. Such a device can work with the mobile device to provide a higher quality conferencing experience than has been provided to date by projecting a substantially full size, high resolution, image of conference participants onto a screen or wall and by providing microphones, speakers, and sufficient audio processing to provide high fidelity audio as part of the conferencing experience. The peripheral may be configured to use the voice and/or data network of the mobile device or may include its own internal network interface.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral comprising: a housing incorporating one or more cameras, pico-projectors, speakers, and microphones, a power interface, and at least one conferencing device interface configured to operatively couple the conferencing peripheral to a secondary device running conferencing software; wherein the conferencing peripheral is controllable by the conferencing software to: operate the one or more cameras and microphones to capture audio and video of one or more near-end conference participants for communication to one or more far-end conference participants via a media conference established by the conferencing software on the secondary device; operate the one or more speakers to deliver audio of one or more far-end conference participants received via the media conference; and operate the one or more pico-projectors to display images of the one or more far-end conference participants received via the media conference such that the one or more far-end conference participants are rendered at substantially true size on a display surface located at a reasonable social distance from the one or more near-end conference participants.
2. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 1 , wherein substantially true size is at least 50% of true size and wherein the reasonable social distance is between 5 and 10 feet.
3. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 1 , wherein the body further incorporates one or more infra red or ultrasonic sensors operable to determine a distance from the one or more pico-projectors to the display surface whereby the conferencing software can automatically scale the display of the one or more far-end conference participants.
4. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 1 , wherein the one or more microphones comprise a plurality of microphones operable to provide one or more functions selected from the group consisting of: beam forming, positional audio, camera framing, echo cancellation, and noise cancellation.
5. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 1 , wherein the one or more speakers comprise a plurality of speakers operable to provide stereo audio corresponding to a projected location of one or more far-end conference participants.
6. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 1 , wherein the one or more cameras comprise a plurality of cameras and wherein the plurality of cameras are operable to image one or more items selected from the group consisting of: conference participants, documents and exhibits.
7. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 1 , wherein the conferencing device interface is a docking cradle for an electronic device.
8. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 1 , wherein the body further incorporates a network interface, and wherein the media conference may be established using either the network interface of the conferencing peripheral or a network interface of the secondary device.
9. A telepresence conferencing device, the device including: at least one pico-projector; a power interface; and a conferencing device interface configured to operatively couple the conferencing peripheral to a secondary device running conferencing software; wherein the telepresence conferencing device is controllable by the conferencing software to operate the at least one pico-projector to display an image of at least one far-end conference participant received via a media conference established by the secondary device such that the at least one far-end conference participant is rendered at least 50% of true size on a display surface.
10. The telepresence conferencing device of claim 9 , further including at least one camera disposed on an opposite side of the telepresence conferencing device from the at least one pico-projector and wherein the telepresence conferencing device is adaptable to stand on a table at substantially eye level.
11. The telepresence conferencing device of claim 10 , wherein the telepresence conferencing device is further adaptable to stand on the table at substantially eye level via an adjustable folding tripod.
12. The telepresence conferencing device of claim 11 , wherein legs of the adjustable folding tripod are configurable to be folded against a body of the conferencing peripheral for storage.
13. The telepresence conferencing device of claim 12 , wherein legs of the tripod incorporate at least one microphone or at least one speaker.
14. An immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral, the peripheral housing: a conferencing device interface configured to operatively couple the conferencing peripheral to a secondary device running conferencing software; a processor operatively coupled to the conferencing device interface for controlling operation of the conferencing peripheral; and at least one pico-projector operatively coupled to the processor; wherein the pico-projector is controlled by the processor to display an image of at least one far-end conference participant received via a media conference established by the secondary device such that the at least one far-end conference participant is displayed at substantially true size on a display surface.
15. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 14 , wherein the at least one pico-projector comprises a plurality of projectors, each configured to display an image of at least one far-end conference participant.
16. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 14 , the peripheral further housing at least one camera operatively coupled to the processor to facilitate capture of images of one or more near-end conference participants for communication to the at least one far-end conference participant via the media conference.
17. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 14 , the peripheral further housing at least one microphone operatively coupled to the processor to facilitate capture of audio of one or more near-end conference participants for communication to the at least one far-end conference participant via the media conference.
18. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 14 , the peripheral further housing one or more speakers operatively coupled to the processor to facilitate delivery of audio of one or more far-end conference participants received via the media conference.
19. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 14 , the peripheral further housing one or more infra red or ultrasonic sensors operatively coupled to the processor to facilitate determination of a distance from the at least one pico-projectors to the display surface and automatic scaling of the displayed image of the one or more far-end conference participants.
20. The immersive telepresence conferencing peripheral of claim 14 , the peripheral further housing a network interface for establishing another media conference which is independent of the portable device.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
November 3, 2015
November 22, 2016
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